he Forms of To Be

TheGreekseagod,Proteus,was(likethesea)capableofchangingformin
aninstant.Inordertogetanydecentinformationoutofhim,youhadtograbhim
andholdontightwhilehewentthroughhisvariousformslion,wildboar,
snake,tree,runningstreamitwasn'teasy.TheverbTobeissaidtobethe
mostproteanoftheEnglishlanguage,constantlychangingform,sometimes
withoutmuchofadiscerniblepattern.Consideringthatweuseitsooften,itis
reallytoobadthattheverbTobehastobethemostirregular,slipperyverbin
thelanguage.
Present Tense
I am

We are

You are

You are

He/She/It is

They are

Past Tense
I was

We were

You were

You were

He/She/It was

They were

Perfect Form (past participle)

Progressive Form (present participle)

I have been, etc.

I am being, etc.

Wemustchoosecarefullyamongthesevariousformswhenselectingthe
properverbtogowithoursubject.Singularsubjectsrequiresingularverbs;
pluralsubjectsrequirepluralverbs.That'susuallyaneasymatter.Wewouldn't
writeThetroops

wasmovingtotheborder.Butsomesentencesrequirecloser
attention.DowewriteThemajorityofstudentsis(orare)votingagainstthe
referendum"?ReviewcarefullythematerialinoursectiononSubjectVerb

Agreement,andnoticehowoftenthechoiceswemakerequireafamiliaritywith
theseformsoftheTobeverb.

Simple Questions
Wecreatesimpleyes/noquestionsbyinvertingtheorderofsubjectandthe
Tobeverb.

Isyourbrothertallerthanyou?

AmIbotheringyou?

Weretheyembarrassedbythecomedian?

The same inversion takes place when To be is combined with verbs in the
progressive:

AmIworkingwithyoutoday?

Isitsnowinginthemountains?

Wereyourchildrendrivinghomethisweekend?

The Linking and Existential 'To Be'

TheverbTobemostfrequentlyworksinconjunctionwithanotherverb:
Heisplayingthepiano,Shewillbearrivingthisafternoon.Occasionally,
though,theverbwillstandbyitself,alone,inasentence.Thisisespeciallytrue
insimple,briefanswerstoquestions.
Who's going to the movies with me?
I am
Who's responsible for this mess in the bathroom?
She is.

Insentencessuchasthese,thesubjectusuallyreceivestheintonationstress
andthevoicefallsoffontheverb.
AnauxiliarycanbecombinedwiththebaseformofTobetoprovide
simpleanswerstoquestionsthatuseformsoftobe.

Is Heitor in class this morning?

Well, he might be.
Is anyone helping Heitor with his homework?
I'm not sure. Suzanne could be.

TheverbTobealsoactsasalinkingverb,joiningthesentencesubject
withasubjectcomplementoradjectivecomplement.Alinkingverbprovides
noactiontoasentence:thesubjectcomplementreidentifiesthesubject;the
adjectivecomplementmodifiesit.(Forfurtherinformationandadditional
vocabularyindealingwithlinkingverbs,visitthehyperlinksinthisparagraph.)

ProfessorMoriberistheDirectorofOnlineLearning.

OurtriptoYellowstonewasfantastic!